> Damon Estep wrote: > > >Steve, > > > >So you do not think that SIGTRAN has legs? > > > >Damon > > > > > Dunno. If there are a huge proliferation of IP telephony, what part > would SIGTRAN play? Seems like its superfluous in that scenario. Like I > said, its being deployed now, but that is mostly within the existing > PSTN framework - SS7 over IP instead of MTP controlling the good old > switched circuits. What future role do you see for it? > > Regards, > Steve >
Hard to tell this early on, but is seems like the main goal of a lot of VoIP service providers (including us) is to bypass the PSTN in every way possible. If VoIP ever reaches critical mass, which is likely, it would make sense for the VoIP providers to bypass SS7 and find a way to exchange information without it. It seems to me the main reason to go SS7 is to be able to bill carriers for termination on your network and gain access to Inter-Machine Trunks. VoIP providers are not really collecting a lot of termination money right now; it is usually the upstream provider that running the class 5 switches that receives that revenue. VoIP providers are more concerned with being able to offer free long distance, which requires toll bypass via VoIP. I do not have a great education on the issue, but what I do know indicates that a lot of the domestic long distance, particularly the calling card portion, already bypasses large PSTN spans. Once the value of being able to collect termination fees deteriorates it is likely that the system that drives it will deteriorate as well. One thing that I think confuses the issue is local number portability, since it will be much harder to route calls as the NPA/NXX boundaries disappear. I am obviously speaking from a USA perspective. At some point you have to get in "front" of the SS7 network to know when you can bypass it, and that will have to come in the form of a public registry of phone numbers, much like ARIN/APIC/RIPE do now or IP numbers. Again local number portability really mucks this up. Who knows? I think we would both agree that for the near future SS7 is reality and there is a market for an * implementation as long as he US based RBOCs will certify it. _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
